Just What Time Is It Now...!
My mind went completely blank. Words failed me entirely.
Fainted?
The Wi Yeon-seol, of all people?
I had crossed countless battlefields and faced dozens of blades at my throat without blinking, yet I had passed out from the mere sight of a woman’s face reflected in the water?
Damn it.
My face burned as if it were on fire.
To show such a pathetic sight in front of a girl far younger than me—if there were a mouse hole nearby, I would have crawled into it and hidden forever.
Yet apart from that shame, I noticed Yeon-jin watching me with excessive caution, fidgeting restlessly.
She must still be bothered by how curt I was with her earlier.
My tone back then had certainly invited misunderstanding. Even if it hadn’t been intentional, the way she paid attention to my every movement now filled me with pity.
I let out a sigh-like breath and raised my right hand, gently placing it atop Yeon-jin’s head. The sensation beneath my fingers was like the finest silk—smooth and impossibly soft.
Yeon-jin stared up at me with wide, startled eyes, but I paid it no mind and began stroking her hair with the gentle rhythm one might use to soothe a puppy.
“Ah, Sister…?”
“Thank you. For carrying me all the way here.”
I kept my voice as kind as possible, relaxing the strength in my fingertips as I slowly ran them through her hair.
“Your clothes are soft too. I like them. You’ve worked hard.”
“Ah…!”
A bright red flush rose to Yeon-jin’s cheeks at my praise.
With her ears burning crimson, she twisted her body shyly and let out a bashful giggle.
“Ehehe, it’s nothing. It’s all for you, Sister Seol-hye. No one else.”
“......”
Her pure, innocent answer made me stop stroking and fall silent.
For Seol-hye’s sake.
Yes—her kindness and affection were directed entirely toward the original owner of this shell.
Reminding myself of that fact once more, I lowered my head and looked down at my own body.
The first thing that filled my vision was an impossibly voluptuous curve that looked ready to burst free.
“Ha……”
The thin silk robes seemed barely able to contain breasts so sensual they blocked my entire lower body from view unless I twisted at the waist.
I shifted my gaze to my right hand, the one stroking Yeon-jin’s hair.
It was not the rough, calloused hand of a man forged by hardship, but a slender, delicate jade-like hand resting atop her head.
I twisted my torso somehow to look past my chest, and my eyes fell upon a waist that curved inward dramatically before flaring out into hips that seemed almost excessively wide.
This is…
It was not the body of a warrior who roamed the battlefields, but a seductive, voluptuous form crafted to ignite the lust of men and capture their gazes.
With every breath, the taut fabric outlined the full shape of my breasts with shameless clarity.
The lines flowing from hips to thighs were also far too graceful and pronounced—perfect for drawing the lewd stares of men.
How did I know? Because I had been one of those men my entire life.
Though the face appeared to have only just passed twenty years of age like Yeon-jin, this body exuded the ripe allure of fully matured fruit.
Does any of this even make sense?
With a heavy sigh, I muttered to myself and ran my hands along my forearms and thighs once more.
They were gone.
The glorious scars earned from decades wandering the martial world. The deep sword wound on my back from when I had turned it to an enemy, the spear scar that had pierced my shoulder—every mark of a brutal life that had once covered my body like badges of honor had vanished without a trace.
In their place, the texture beneath my fingertips felt utterly foreign.
It was not the tough, leathery skin or steel-like muscles of a man. The flesh was so soft and elastic that a single press from a finger would sink right in.
This body is cumbersome and heavy for practicing martial arts.
I frowned, giving an honest assessment. The heavy weight tugging at my chest, the oversized pelvis—overall, this soft rather than firm form seemed too heavy and sluggish for executing sharp sword paths.
Fortunately, that was not the whole story.
When I carefully felt the muscles along my inner thighs, calves, and waist, I could sense firm, well-trained muscle beneath the soft layer of flesh.
At least it hasn’t been neglected in training.
Though it might look like a delicately raised flower at first glance, the original owner of this body had clearly shed blood and sweat in places no one could see.
The muscles clung to the bones in straight, true lines—the unmistakable result of a warrior’s relentless, consistent training.
As I silently tried to rise from my seat, the unfamiliar balance of the body made my legs wobble.
“Ugh.”
“Ah…! Sister!”
With a short gasp, Yeon-jin hurriedly reached out to support me, but I lifted a hand and stopped her.
“It’s fine. I’m okay.”
“But…!”
“I said it’s fine.”
The idea of being unable to stand without someone’s help—my pride as Wi Yeon-seol would never allow it.
I planted my feet firmly, straightened my back as best I could, and stood upright.
“Hng…!”
Fortunately, the foggy sensation from earlier did not return, nor did any dizziness.
I slowly regulated my breathing and calmly pressed my entire foot against the floor until my center of balance settled.
Though the body was unfamiliar, by carefully adjusting like a newborn learning to stand, movement no longer felt as difficult as before.
Once I had found a decent sense of balance, I took a deep breath and looked at Yeon-jin.
“Do you have a bronze mirror?”
“Ah, yes! Just a moment.”
Yeon-jin quickly turned and rummaged through a drawer, soon producing a palm-sized hand mirror with a polished surface and offering it to me.
With trembling hands I accepted the cold metal and slowly gazed at the face reflected within.
As expected, it was the same.
The face in the mirror belonged to the woman who had appeared on the water’s surface right before I lost consciousness.
Hair as black as molten night sky, and crimson eyes that glowed with an almost terrifying red light.
Those blood-red pupils carried the metallic scent of blood and a bewitching aura strong enough to steal a man’s soul and drain him dry.
It was a beauty that would make every single man on the street turn his head.
“…Kk.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I had more or less accepted the fact that I was now a woman, so that was manageable. What I couldn’t handle was how perfectly the face in the mirror matched my taste.
Damn it all. Falling for my own face—what kind of absurd farce is this?
Forcing down my swirling emotions, I turned to Yeon-jin, who stood awkwardly nearby, and asked in a low voice.
“Tell me my name.”
“…Yes?”
“What is my name?”
Clear confusion filled her eyes. Yeon-jin’s brows furrowed slightly at my question.
“Your… name?”
“...”
When I nodded silently, she hesitated, the corners of her mouth turning down as though she didn’t know what to say.
“Sister’s name is Seol-hye… right? It’s the Dharma name Master gave you.”
“…Mm.”
I already knew that much. Yeon-jin had called me “Sister Seol-hye” so many times it had grown tiresome.
Was there nothing else? What I truly wanted to know was not the Dharma name but this young lady’s original secular name….
When I narrowed my brows in clear dissatisfaction, Yeon-jin quickly shook her head after reading my expression.
“I don’t know Sister’s secular name either…! We’ve been together since we were babies, but you’ve never told me once…!”
“I see. Sorry for asking something strange.”
I offered her a reassuring smile as she stammered in distress, then set the mirror down with a serious expression.
“I am Seol-hye. Correct?”
“Y-yes…?”
“And you are Yeon-jin. Your real name is Seo Ryeon-ju.”
I stared straight at her and murmured softly.
“The fact that you’re here means this is indeed Botamun in Zhejiang.”
“……Yes. That’s right.”
Yeon-jin nodded slowly. Her eyes were filled with puzzlement.
She remained silent for a moment before speaking carefully.
“Sister, something really does seem wrong with you today.”
“......”
“You keep asking strange questions, and you couldn’t even control your own body properly… Perhaps because of what happened last time, you’ve developed a heart demon…”
Her voice trailed off as she looked at me with anxious eyes.
A heart demon.
The most feared inner darkness for any martial artist—an illness of the mind that gnawed away at one’s spirit.
Yet for me right now, there could be no better excuse.
The situation I found myself in was strange enough that falling prey to a heart demon several times over would not be surprising.
With a faint, bitter smile on my lips, I slowly turned my head to look at Yeon-jin.
“A heart demon… Yeah. That might be possible.”
“Ah…!”
When I calmly affirmed it, Yeon-jin jumped in shock. She bit her lip as tears instantly welled up in her kind eyes.
“What should we do……”
She urgently grabbed my hand and tried to feel my pulse with trembling fingers.
“I’ll check your pulse! If your energy is tangled, I can help you circulate it! If there are any signs of qi deviation, we should tell Master right away…!”
“Heh heh.”
Her desperate sincerity made me burst into laughter.
Her reaction was so pure it felt as if her heart were transparent.
It was both unbearably cute and amusing. I had to forcefully suppress the urge to kiss her flushed cheeks over and over.
While not quite on the level of the face I had seen in the mirror, Yeon-jin still possessed more than enough beauty to stir the heart of Wi Yeon-seol.
To think I never claimed a woman like this before she grew old. As expected, the Central Plains are vast and full of beauties—
Wait.
Come to think of it, there was one question I absolutely needed to ask…!
Given everything that had happened, I had completely forgotten the most important question of all.
I lifted my other hand and gently wrapped it around Yeon-jin’s as she tried to take my pulse, then looked into her tear-filled eyes with deadly seriousness.
“Yeon-jin.”
“Y-yes? Sister, what’s wrong? Your body, the heart demon…!”
“It’s fine. I’m okay. But let me ask one more thing.”
Facing the girl who was still on the verge of tears, I asked the most crucial—and most terrifying—question of all.
“Just what time is it now?”
“R-right now? Right now it’s clearly—”
After hearing Yeon-jin’s slow answer, I could only clutch my head and let out a deep, heavy sigh.